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Sony Pictures Animation has released the first image of new characters that will be introduced in The Smurfs 2. In the sequel to the 2011 live-action/animation hybrid, Christina Ricci voices Vexy (left) and comedian JB Smoove voices Hackus (right), two new little monsters nicknamed “The Naughties” created by the evil Gargamel (played again by Hank Azaria). See the image after the jump.

In a piece of unsurprising news, Sony just announced they’ll release a sequel to The Smurfs on August 2, 2013, hoping to duplicate the late summer success of its predecessor, which is still in theaters.

The first film, based on 50-year-old characters and best known as a 30-year-old cartoon, didn’t seem like a sure thing a few weeks ago. Its 22% rating on Rotten Tomatoes wasn’t helping matters. However, instead of releasing the film in the middle of summer, Sony’s genius idea to release The Smurfs at the tail-end of summer basically made the film critic proof. By the time late July rolled around, most of the major family films had come and gone leaving plenty of families hungry for something new. So The Smurfs, seemingly out of nowhere, just barely missed beating Universal’s high-profile Cowboys & Aliens in its opening weekend and will likely crack $150 million internationally before it’s two weeks old.

Read which films The Smurfs 2 compete with in two years after the jump.

Snow White gets a rewrite, The Smurfs get a sequel and Bastards sells for big bucks. How’s that for alliteration? There’s a bunch of screenwriting news out there right now and, after the jump, we’ll give some context to the following:

Screenwriter Hossein Amini has just been hired to do a rewrite of Universal’s Snow White and the Huntsman, the second Snow White film scheduled for release next year.

Even though The Smurfs has yet to open in theaters, the producers are already getting ready to write a sequel.

After the success of The Hangover Part II and Bridesmaids, Paramount has just purchased an R-rated comedy spec-script called Bastards by Justin Malen.